Melissa Parrish's Blog

Back in March, I hinted at my discomfort with the way SoLoMo has come to mean technology-focused, reductive marketing campaigns usually solely focused on the “check-in.” But the reason people want to talk about SoLoMo is because of real trends in consumer adoption of technology and advanced technology behaviors. Those of you who were at Forrester’s Marketing Leadership Forum last month know that this thinking evolved into what we’ve been calling the Always Addressable Customer — a topic that I haven’t stopped talking about since we debuted it. For those of you who haven’t yet heard the term, the Always Addressable Customer is someone who:

· Owns and uses at least 3 data connected devices

· Accesses the Internet multiple times per day

· Goes online from multiple physical locations (for example: home, work, in the car, and at the mall)

These customers require marketers to think differently about their programs if they want to be effective. Always Addressable Customers don’t stop to think about their devices or “technology solutions.” Rather, technology is simply how they live their lives and get stuff done. It means that you can now reach this ultra-connected audience wherever they are, but more importantly, wherever and whenever they need you. That “need” is key here: I’m not talking about your ability to bombard your customer with irrelevant messages. I’m talking about how you can now provide true service and value to your customers whenever and wherever they need it.

My research uncovered that more than a third of all US online adults are already Always Addressable. But this is not an exclusively US phenomenon. In fact, certain demographics in other parts of the world have even greater concentrations of Always Addressable Customers — and the trend is only accelerating.

Clearly I’ve found this research pretty exciting, and as I mentioned, I just can’t seem to stop talking about it. In fact, I’ll be sharing more of the research — especially as it relates to global audiences — at Forrester’s Interactive Marketing Summit EMEA in a couple of weeks. I hope you’ll join me!

And in the meantime, I’d love to know: How are you thinking about engaging your most digitally connected customers today?

Comments

we are about to cross a chasm in to the intention economy from the attention economy.

Your AAC now has the tools to turn marketers on and off. (or will soon) the power shift has now or will soon cross to the customer who can then begin to take control of his or her relationships with vendors. go ahead and keep thinking about solving for attention.

the next wave of innovation will be companies that are looking to solve for the customers intention.

I really like the term Always Addressable Customer. I am researching SoLoMo at the moment and wondered whether you made this term up? It would be great to incorporate your ideas and terms into the research we are doing. Thanks very much.

I like the intention and direction of the Always Addressable Customer, however, I think it is limited and misses a larger concept about people that meet your criteria. The larger concept is, I think, the Always Addressable Person. It is not about being a customer or employee or whatever, but about being a connected person and what that means, why we want to be connected, and who we are connecting with.

Fulfilling a "need" is spot on and does lead to the larger social nature of this ubiquitous connectivity. I don't mind being thought of as a customer some of the time but I want to be thought of as a person all the time.

How do you elicit the person's intention! (referring to it is the customer person who is in control now, not the vendor) If servicing a person's intention is is how you will be interacting with your future or current customers to complete a transaction (since it is about sales, right?) where do you go to get the info about the person and then how do you reach them across all platforms? right now there is compelling reason to believe you better have a mobile marketing strategy which means instead of collecting emails, you should be getting phone numbers. There doesn't seem to be icontact or mail chimp for texting though! global audience? how about giving us just local tips to reach the AAP.